No one has ever been able to convince me that optimism is not preferable to pessimism.

Prior to the passage of the Patriot Act, it was very difficult - often impossible - for us to share information with the Central Intelligence Agency, with NSA, with the other intelligence agencies, and likewise, for them to share information with us.

There'll be differences of opinion in just about every intelligence analysis that you make.

People talk about the Patriot Act that was passed immediately in the wake of September 11. What the Patriot Act did was break down the walls between the various agencies.

I think around the world, our agents are the best collectors of information you'll find.

We cannot go up on a wire. We cannot do a search without a judge on the FISA Court approving it and determining that we have met the standard that has been set forth by Congress in order to utilize these techniques.

I would say in just about every investigation we have, there will be differences of opinion, where you have partial facts, as to what those facts mean.